Baby Steps: One Thing I Am Doing

Last post I mentioned setting myself a four week goal to make some changes and discover the net--if any-- effect.  I've made several changes, but bottom line--I'm not on a diet.  There is nothing to 'go off of'.  I'm incorporating some things into my life that I plan to stick with routinely.  It remains to be seen what benefits, if any, I will net.  I will share more at the end of the 4 weeks.

One thing I changed is what I put into my morning coffee.  I love good coffee in the a.m. with half and half, sans sweetening of any kind--unless it's iced coffee, which I also love.

Now I don't think fat in food is evil.  I did the whole very low fat/no fat thing back in the late 1990's.  More realistically it was a fast carb (versus slow carbs) diet which elevated my body weight and my cholesterol.  Good fats are good for us.  But too many calories-- including healthy ones-- will make us over fat, so we need to consider that aspect.

As well, I've read that when you eat fat, your body will utilize that fat before it utilizes your stored body fat.  If that is true--don't know if it is or isn't--then to get rid of my fat I need to reduce my total fat intake.  Meaning, I eat good fat, in modest amounts--that being what is optimal for good health--and use non-fat substitutes elsewhere as needed to balance my calorie intake.

So...my bright idea was to use skim milk in my coffee.  Yuk.  Not good.  One issue is the amount I need made it too cool.  My solution was to nuke the milk, then add the coffee.  But I still hated the taste, or lack of to be more exact.

All the creamer substitutes--which do a better job  than skim milk in my book--I have issues with.  They are usually sweetened or they have partially hydrogenated oils.  I can't abide sweet hot coffee, though I love sweet cold coffee, and I avoid routine use of trans fat foods.  And the  dairy fat free half and half is tasteless to me and overpriced.  I may as well save my money and use skim milk.

I was ready to call the skim milk in my coffee quits and go back to half and half --because it is not a change I can live with forever--when I hit on the idea of trying 1% milk in my coffee.  Who'd have thought it would make such a big difference???  Well, not me, but guess what?..it is 100% better.  So much so that I may just be able to live with it for life, saying bye bye to half and half forever.

I'll see how it goes.  I could always try 2% milk, and even whole milk.  I need to do the fat math and the calorie math since I use about 1/4 cup per 12 ounce coffee mug.

This one little thing won't make a big difference.  But a lot of little things, a lot of little changes might add up to one big change--me seeing the number on the scale diminish.

If I have learned anything, I have learned this: the thing that gets you to your weight loss is the thing that keeps you there.  The coffee change is a baby step, but perhaps a step in the right direction.  We'll see.

Three Thoughts, One Thing and A Quick Tip

Three Thoughts

1. Overeating is the symptom.
2. Fat is the result.
3. Discover the real issue. It's different for each one of us.

One Thing

If you have company coming and can only do one thing--empty the trash--particularly in the bathroom. No one wants to use your bathroom and view waxed dipped Q tips and soggy tissues. Yuk.

Quick Tip

Keep a box of dry 'swiffer' type refills in your bathroom. They'll grab the hair that accumulates on the bathroom floor. No need for the stick attachment. Just use your foot or get down on your hands and knees and 'swiffer'. I pack a couple of these when we visit family-- to tidy up the bathroom. My husband is hairy and 'scrubs' the hair off of his limbs with the towel when he dries. I've suggested, to no avail, that he pat himself dry--LOL. And by the time I blow dry my hair there's lots of hair on the floor and after a day or two--well you know. And this beats dragging out the vacuum.